Effects on the glucagon response to hypoglycaemia during DPP-4 inhibition in elderly subjects with type 2 diabetes: A randomized, placebo-controlled study

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Glucagon in this randomized controlled trial publication.

Maintainance of glucagon response to hypoglycaemia is important as a safeguard against hypoglycaemia during glucose-lowering therapy in type 2 diabetes.

During recent years, DPP-4 (dipeptidyl peptidase-4) inhibition has become more commonly used in elderly patients.

However, whether DPP-4 inhibition affects the glucagon response to hypoglycaemia in the elderly is not known and was the aim of this study.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 28 subjects were involved.

PubMed indexes the participants as older adults and people over 80, both men and women.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and crossover study.

The subjects were allocated by chance, so the Glucagon group and the comparison group should start out alike.

As a double-blind Glucagon study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

Some subjects received a placebo instead of Glucagon, giving a reference point.

Each person switched between Glucagon and the comparison at some point, usually with a gap in between.

A time span of 4 weeks appears in the methods.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Aging, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Dipeptidyl-Peptidase IV Inhibitors, Glucagon, Glucagon-Secreting Cells, Glucose Clamp Technique and Hyperglycemia.

The authors tagged it with the keywords DPP-4 inhibition, hypoglycaemia and type 2 diabetes.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Glucagon in 28 subjects over 4 weeks.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

Results are reported in around 5 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2018 (Diabetes, obesity & metabolism), a journal based in England.

More context: the Glucagon compound page, all human trials.